School trip to ‘learn about peace’ turns tragic as boats capsize near Okinawa base

Four people, some of whom are wearing safety vests, stand on a boat next to a capsized boat as one stands on the hull of the capsized boat.

Two people died after two small boats carrying Japanese high school students on a trip to “learn about peace” capsized near Camp Schwab, Okinawa, March 16, 2025. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)

NAGO, Okinawa — A teenage girl and a boat captain died Monday after two vessels carrying Japanese students on a school trip overturned near the site of a planned Marine Corps airfield, according to Japan’s coast guard.

Two motorboats — the 25-foot-long Heiwa-maru and the 20-foot-long Fukutsu — capsized off Henoko Cape near Camp Schwab at 10:10 a.m., the coast guard announced in a news release that day. The accident occurred about 1,500 yards from shore.

The boats were carrying juniors from Doshisha International Senior High School in Kyoto on a trip intended to “learn about peace,” a school spokesman said by phone Monday.

A 17-year-old female student and the Fukutsu’s male captain, in his 70s, were pronounced dead after being taken unconscious to a hospital on Okinawa, the coast guard said in an update. The student was wearing a life jacket.

Authorities did not release the time of death for either victim, and their names are being withheld pending permission from their families.

Ten students and two crew members were aboard the Heiwa-maru, and eight students and one crew member were aboard the Fukutsu, the release said. All were pulled from the water by the coast guard, which dispatched 11 boats and a helicopter to the scene.

Four people, including the two who died, were injured and taken to hospitals, a coast guard spokesman said by phone. The conditions of the other two injured people were not immediately known.

Some Japanese government officials speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation, the coast guard said.

Workers towed the two boats about two miles to Henoko Fishing Port in Nago city and pulled them from the water around 4:15 p.m.

The vessels had previously appeared in protests related to the airfield’s construction project, according to the coast guard. Images of both boats have been posted on the website of Henoko Blue, a protest group that opposes the plan to reclaim land for the project.

The airfield is being built in waters off Camp Schwab to replace Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which sits in the densely populated city of Ginowan. The relocation plan has been a source of long-running political tension on Okinawa, where many residents oppose the project despite support from the Japanese government.

A crane sits in the foreground as two boats approach a capsized boat in the background.

Two people died after two small boats carrying Japanese high school students on a trip to “learn about peace” capsized near Camp Schwab, Okinawa, March 16, 2025. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)

A spokeswoman for Henoko Blue declined to comment by phone Monday.

Weather conditions at the time of the accident included winds of about 9 mph and waves of more than 1 ½ feet, according to the coast guard. A wave warning had been issued for Okinawa’s northern coast.

Construction of the replacement airfield is expected to last until at least 2033 and cost nearly $6 billion, according to Japan’s Ministry of Defense. Officials say the runways could become operational around 2036.